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SHREW! is Amy Freed's feminist rewrite of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew that recreates the bawdy, broad humour without the misogyny.
Posted in: Audio Dramas, Review, TV | Tagged: shakespeare, Shrew!, The Taming of the Shrew
Shrew!: Funny, Feminist Rewrite of Shakespeare Plays It Straight
SHREW! is Amy Freed's feminist rewrite of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew that recreates the bawdy, broad humour without the misogyny.
Audio drama podcasts are still a Wild West with untapped potential, and SCREW! is the latest swing in trying something different: a feminist rewriting of Shakespeare's most sexist play. That play is The Taming of the Shrew, a comedy about how a domineering man "tames' his new fiery and bad-tempered wife into becoming an obedient and submissive wife by, well, abusing and torturing her like depriving her of food and water until she submits to his will, and then brainwashes her into scolding her sisters into being servile wives as well. There's no denying the sexual politics of the play despite many apologists over the decades trying to defend it as "ironic commentary." The rare attempt with some feminist reading just can't get past the text itself. Prolific playwright Amy Freed certainly thought that and decided to rewrite it, hence SHREW!
SHREW! purports to tell the "true" story of The Taming of the Shrew. It begins with pub landlady Mistress Slapbottom (Tessa Auberjonois) clearing the joint of all its rowdy revelers, leaving her alone with her visit from an old friend: an unnamed female playwright (Susannah Rogers) who has to disguise herself as a man to answer her calling as a writer. Said writer is rather pissed off about being tasked with ghostwriting a sexist play about the taming of a shrew for a hack playwright who couldn't crack it himself by his deadline. In the privacy of the pub, she begins a page one rewrite to entertain herself and her friend. Referencing the original play's framing sequence, the action shifts to the rewritten play.
Here the "shrew" of the play, Katherine, is now a woman who loves learning and cannot stand being cooped up by the men who try to control her (which was really the original play, only this time she's the hero instead, the antagonist). As in the original Shrew, it starts with gentlemen Lucentio and Tranio, who are visiting Padua. Strolling through the university, Lucentio is immediately smitten by Katherine's sister, Bianca, an airhead who loves being in a man's world. He conspires with Tranio to disguise himself as a tutor and get close to Bianca by pretending to give her lessons. Meanwhile, Petruchio arrives in town with his trusty servant, Grumio, to visit his friends. They are greeted by Petruchio's old pal, Hortensio, and things kick off, but not the way the original Shrew goes.
Shakespeare as audio plays is not a new thing. BBC Radio does it all the time and you can find recent American productions all over Audible with well-known TV and film actors in the cast. SHREW! is a shot at doing something old and new at the same time. It's full of raucous double entendres and bold, broad performances intended to play to the rafters. The actors double up in other roles. Perhaps Shakespeare is a niche amongst Americans, but this is as good a Shakespeare explainer of how a previously established story can be changed with just a different perspective.
SHREW! is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and all major podcast platforms
SHREW!
8/10
A feminist rewrite of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew", Amy Freed's audio comedy drama recreates the raucous jokes of Shakespearean theatre with all the bawdy jokes, double entendres and broad performances and also deconstructs the nature of storytelling and how characters, themes and a well-known story can be changed with just a different point of view.
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